I think it's far more than just the long commutes and frustration of driving in traffic. These folks are predisposed to handle those things poorly for myriad r

I think it's far more than just the long commutes and frustration of driving in traffic. These folks are predisposed to handle those things poorly for myriad reasons, and have established some very dangerous to pedestrians/cyclists driving norms which though illegal, go 100% unpoliced there. It's just very aggressive and driver-prioritized behavior, and it reinforces itself in a positive feedback loop turning many into psychopaths behind the wheel. You can't even safely walk to your car with groceries in IL, the pedestrians are expected to yield to the drivers. If you get in the path of a car in a parking lot, they'll often threateningly closely follow you to try compel you to move out of their way while walking to/from your car. The drivers behave like they all own the place when behind a wheel, of course that mentality manifests as a car vs. car pissing match in traffic. Cyclists don't stand a chance in such a milieu. Back when my family visited me in CA after moving ~15 years ago, it took just ONE day of them driving their rental to get a written warning from the police. Something about a cross-walk where they nearly hit a pedestrian after not stopping before entering the crossing zone to turn at an intersection IIRC. Turned out a police car was stopped at the intersection and witnessed it all go down. They were in complete disbelief and felt the pedestrian should have been watching out for cars, that they were in the right. It's batshit insanity in IL, and I suspect much of the US is like that to varying degrees. CA isn't even that great, but compared to IL I strongly prefer being any of driver/cyclist/pedestrian here than over there. It may seem paradoxical that one wouldn't at least prefer being the driver in driver-prioritized IL but it's unpleasant to drive where everyone you're sharing the road with is being a psychopath.